


Don't Mention It

by Joellistrash (amberforest)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: 5+1, Anxiety, Drinking, Humor, Multi, cursing, theyre gay and love each other a lot and i love them a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-03-28 21:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3869677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amberforest/pseuds/Joellistrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are times when silence has the loudest voice.</p><p>-Leroy Brownlow</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Mention It

**Author's Note:**

> Five times no one mentioned it and one time they did.
> 
> UPDATE 7/5/16: This was written before Arryn said she didn't want to be in fanfic. I've tried to delete all mentions of her, but if I've missed any I don't mean any disrespect. Thanks for understanding!

**One**

Adam, later, would be willing to bet money that Jack and Caiti had stood them up on purpose. But for now, here he was. Stuck outside a nice, warm restaurant in the near freezing temperatures with Joel, who seemed just as annoyed as he was. After about half an hour of waiting and somewhat awkward small talk, Joel decided he was done.

"Alright, I'm not waiting anymore," he said, bouncing a little to warm himself. "Let's just go."

"Home?" Adam asked, frowning a little.

" _In_ ," he said, and promptly entered the restaurant. Adam didn't hesitate to follow. They were immediately hit with a wave of warm air, and they sighed in relief. "It's fucking September, this is bullshit."

"Pattillo," Adam said, smiling at the waitress who was looking at Joel, startled by his language.

"I have you down for four," she said uncertainly.

"The actual Pattillo's aren't showing up," Joel clarified annoyedly.

"Alright. If you don't mind, I'll seat you at a table for two so that we can keep the larger table open." She did, and soon they were alone once again.

Adam glanced at Joel over his menu every now and again, not quite knowing how to start a conversation. Before, they'd had Jack and Caiti to piggyback on. Without them, they were floundering.

"So," Adam said.

"Uh-" Joel said at the same time. They lapsed back into silence until Joel finally snapped his menu closed. “Alright, this place is shit.”

“Absolutely,” Adam replied immediately. “Hoffbrau?” He offered, remembering Joel's love for the steakhouse in past encounters. He answered by standing up so fast he rattled the table. For the rest of the night, he and Adam laughed and joked as if they’d known each other for years. It was the most comfortable Adam had felt around him… ever. Despite knowing him for over a month, he’d never connected with Joel as much as in this moment, telling embarrassing anecdotes about Jack that would probably get the other man angry enough to punch them.

“Okay,” Joel said after about an hour of beer and laughing, “I’ve been meaning to say this for a while. Are you- are you sure we haven’t met before? I feel like I’ve met you before.” He made a little squinty expression that had Adam's stomach flipping a little. If he had thought even a tiny bit hard about it, it would’ve taken him less than five minutes to remember.

“I made Geoff-” He broke off into giggles. “I made Geoff drink a bottle of hot sauce when I was a Guardian. Burnie filmed it I think.” Joel made a loud noise of recollection into his bottle that made Adam laugh harder.

Needless to say, if Jack and Caiti ever noticed their newfound friendship, they didn’t say a word.

**Two**

“Hey Joel, you wanna go out to lunch?” Jack asked.

“I’m going out with Adam,” Joel replied, hardly glancing away from his phone. Jack raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“That hurts. You know, I introduced you two.”

“Actually, we figured out that we met at RTX earlier this year. What?” Joel added when he spotted Jack’s pout. “You can come too, but we’re not leaving for another hour. Asshole’s held up in the server room.”

“Nah, I’ll just go with Caiti.” Speak of the devil, the perky Australian popped into the room. Joel couldn’t help but smile a little, watching their faces light up at the sight of each other. He wondered idly if he’d ever meet someone that would have that effect on him.

"Are you coming, Joel?" Caiti asked.

"No. He's going with _Adam_ ," Jack said petulantly.

"That's sweet. I'm glad you two are such good friends," she grinned. "Have fun."

"Thank you, Caiti. Fuck you, Jack," Joel called after them. Their laughter was muffled as they left. A few minutes later, Adam texted him.

_Hey. Doesn't look like I can make it to lunch :(_

Joel huffed.

_**You mean to tell me that I hurt jacks feelings and turned him down for nothing?** _

_Sorry! D:_

_**What are you, 13? Stop using emoticons.** _

_You could try to catch up with them?_

_**.......nah. I'll get take out. Want anything?** _

_Awwwww Joel :-))))))_

_**Before I change my mind.** _

_Surprise me._

_**Should I surprise Adam 2.0 too?** _

_Surprise him by not getting anything ;)_

**_STOP_ **

\------

Joel showed up in the server room half an hour later with a large bag of food. The two Adams were nowhere to be seen.

"Hello?" He called out loudly, peering around monitors.

"Jesus!" Baird's muffled voice sounded from down the second row, followed by Ellis's laugh. Joel cracked a smile and followed the direction of the noise.

"Hey, Joel," Adam said brightly. The two were sitting on the floor surrounded by wires and six-bars. "What's in the bag?"

"A burger for me and a salad for you. Because you're fat," he clarified, smiling again when Adam pouted.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Baird said.

"Adam said you didn't want anything," Joel replied innocently.

"You're an asshole," Baird muttered, shoving Adam's shoulder. "Alright, you two go eat. I've got this for now."

And so they went to eat. They settled in the fairly empty break room, which was occupied only by Miles, Kerry, and Barbara.

"Awww, I knew you didn't mean it," Adam said when Joel slid him his burger.

"You're fat," Joel retaliated smoothly. Adam laughed a little.

"You got me there."

"What's wrong with the servers now?" He inquired, genuinely curious as to why Adam had been hung up all day.

"We've got a rat chewing the wires at night. It's gotten through a couple completely so we're replacing those and trying to pinpoint where the little bastard likes it best. That way we can set traps. We're tackling it now since ExtraLife is coming up."

"Do you want to wait until after your shift to record?"

"Oh, fuck," Adam said, his expression immediately dropping as he ran a hand down his face. "I'm sorry, dude. I completely forgot. Uh, could we just put it off 'till tomorrow? I get off hours after you do." Joel would've laughed but Adam looked so truly distressed that he didn't have the heart.

"I'll wait around. It's not like I've got anything at home anyway." He paused, squinting. "That came out a little more depressing than I meant it to." Adam laughed that stupid, contagious, high pitched giggle that really shouldn't be coming out of a man his size.

"We'd have to record without anyone around. I really don't want to play Outlast with no one around."

"Actually, animation is having a push night," Miles piped up from his table. "You guys are cool."

"Fuuuuck," Adam groaned. "I just really didn't want to play Outlast." Joel laughed, his own nerves from the threat of the game ebbing away.

And maybe, if he found himself thoroughly enjoying their late night recording session (despite the game itself), he didn't say a word.

**Three**

Adam honestly didn't know how it happened, but suddenly he and Joel's videos were pulling in almost half a million views each week, sometimes more. He almost didn't know how to process it, and he certainly didn't know how to process Joel suggesting they just have their own show altogether. He was flattered, he was surprised, and he never would have expected any of this in a thousand years. Most of all, he was so thankful.

He had no idea what he'd done to deserve all of this. He got paid to make a show with his best friend (who also happened to be one of his favorite celebrities). He had a fan base just like the one he'd been a part of before he got a job here. The thought of all this was so overwhelming that he got dizzy sometimes. He couldn't be happier.

"People like me as much as they like you!" Adam exclaimed as he and Joel walked briskly from Joel's car to the office. And that was another thing; when had they started carpooling? He shook off the thought and tried his best to fend off the cold wind, folding his jacket further around himself.

"I don't know why you're so surprised. We're fucking awesome." Joel looked away and smiled as Adam laughed.

"But I'm a fucking IT guy, dude! I didn't sign up for this. Not that I'm complaining, it's just that's why I'm surprised."

"If it makes you feel better, I wasn't expecting to become world fucking famous for voicing some idiot Halo character on a stupid homemade cartoon." He sighed in relief as Adam unlocked the office door and got them inside to the warmth. "But back to my proposal..."

"Yes. Absolutely. I'm one hundred percent down," Adam said wholeheartedly. There then followed an awkward silence in which Miles, Kerry, and Brandon all looked up at them with confused and startled faces.

"Did Joel just propose to Adam?" Brandon asked his companions, not taking his eyes off of them. Adam rolled his eyes and shrugged off his coat.

"You guys suck," he huffed.

"He's not denying it," Kerry stage-whispered.

"Jesus, he was saying we should have our own show," Adam said, unable to help smiling at their laughter.

"The twenties are such a fucking annoying age," Joel said.

"You're just jealous," Adam brushed off the comment.

“You’re twenty-two!”

“You’re old!”

"You're fat."

\-----

They went out for lunch late that day, because that's what they did every day. Another thing Adam wasn't sure when had started. This time they brought Jack and Caiti along. It was a celebration, Adam supposed. Burnie had given their series the green light, which meant all that was left were little technical details.

"What're you gonna call it?" Jack asked enthusiastically.

"I don't know," Joel frowned, sipping at his beer thoughtfully. "It's not exactly an achievement guide, and they're not gonna be full length playthroughs either."

"Except for Outlast," Adam interjected, nudging Joel with his elbow.

"Except for Outlast," Joel echoed moodily, causing the other three to smile. "That game is going to have me in the fucking ground by the time I'm fifty."

"You can't call it Let's Play because you're not going to be on the Achievement Hunter channel," Jack commented.

"How about 'How To?'" Caiti suggested. "Since you're not doing any full length playthroughs. And it'll sort of be like a joke, since most of the time you won't actually be teaching the viewers how to do anything productive."

"Yeah! And maybe for some games you could have a live action segment where you try and sim the game in real life," Jack said enthusiastically. Adam and Joel shared a look, and Adam couldn't help but grin when his friend nodded.

"To How To," Caiti exclaimed excitedly, raising her glass in a toast. The rest raised their glasses and drank.

And if Adam noticed Joel smiling at him when he thought he wasn't looking... Well, he didn't say anything.

**Four**

"I'm going to- I’m going to look you up on tumblr," Adam said after a few shots of that God awful liquor and a half an hour of trying to get Joel to curse.

"Don’t look me up on tumblr," Joel sighed in exasperation.

“Look at his hair,” Adam giggled, holding his phone up to the camera. Someone had made gifs of Joel making the squinty face that he liked. It was so innocent and cute and wow, he should really stop drinking right the fuck now.

“You’re just doing everything you can do… That’s- it’s not gonna- that’s not gonna work. Let’s get through this. Let’s focus,” Joel said, not bothering to hide the huge grin on his face. Adam ignored him, reading through his phone. “Adam!”

“I’m gonna look up fanfiction,” he murmured.

“Adam.”

“Joel.” Next thing Adam knew, he and Joel were fighting for custody of the phone and laughing like idiots. “Joel, what’s going on?” He learned today that when Joel was drunk, he didn’t mind Adam touching him. Usually he’d brush him off and wipe his hands on his jacket or something, and even though Adam knew it was a joke it was still disheartening (and if he was sober, he probably would’ve questioned why that was. At times like these, he was thankful that half of their relationship was founded on getting drunk together). They played and fought throughout the rest of the episode, steadily getting drunker. This meant Adam getting steadily touchier and Joel getting steadily looser about it.

And if Adam Baird walked in to Joel finally succumbing to the hug Ellis insisted on, he didn’t mention it the next day when they both came into work with hangovers so bad they were complaining about going blind.

**Five**

When Jack had gotten a call from Joel asking if he wanted to go out, he wasn’t expecting the frazzled, wide-eyed Joel that came to pick him up fifteen minutes later. Jack had to give him kudos, though. He’d masked his anxiety pretty well over the phone.

“Caiti,” he stopped his wife before she could walk out the door. “I think it’s a good idea for you to stay here tonight.”

“Huh? Why?” She asked, peering over his shoulder. Her face fell when she saw Joel standing out by his car, fidgeting and looking around like a caged animal. “Oh my goodness. Is he okay?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting this either. I’ll probably be home late though.”

“That’s alright. Keep in touch, alright?” She said, grabbing his face in her hands. Her eyes were shining with concern; she was just as worried as he was. He smiled and covered her hands with his, leaning in to kiss her quickly.

“I will.”

The car ride was tense. Joel kept his grip tight on the wheel, tapping out an erratic beat. He kept looking out the windows as though someone were chasing him.

“Dude, are the fucking cops after you?” Jack asked when the tension was finally too much.

“No.”

“Then calm the fuck down. What’s going on?”

“I’m not talking about it here.”

“Alright,” Jack replied skeptically. He knew Joel had anxiety issues- hell, he’d helped the guy through panic attacks- but this was different. When they got to the bar, Jack let him go through his process for a while. It was clear this was something Joel needed to get drunk to tell him, which meant that this was a big fucking deal. After Joel’s sixth shot though, he reached out and put a hand on his wrist. “Joel.”

“What did it feel like when you fell in love with Caiti?”

“What? Joel-” He was startled, to say the least. He didn’t even know Joel had been looking to date anyone.

“Just- tell me,” and Joel gave him a look so desperate he heard his heart crack.

“I mean, I don’t know. It was scary at first. Every time I looked at her, even if it was a picture, it was like looking at the sun for the first time. I get it, that’s cheesy, but that’s how it was. Even when nothing else could make me happy, she could.” He paused, gauging Joel’s reaction. “And every time she looked at me or smiled at me or touched me-”

“It felt like your heart was in your fucking throat? And your stomach started jumping all over the place like a traitor?”

“Well,” Jack laughed, “I guess you could say that.” Joel slammed back another shot and motioned for the bartender to refill. “Okay, before we talk about anything else, you have got to stop taking shots of tequila.”

“You’re not my dad.”

“Joel, you’ve got to talk to me. I didn’t even know you were on the market.”

“I wasn’t! I’m not! And yet somehow, here I fucking am.” Another shot.

“I think a good place to start is telling me who you’re apparently in love with.”

“No.” He downed another, but Jack stopped him before he could get a refill.

“Why not?” He wasn’t going to lie; he was hurt.

“Because it’s fucking- fucking stupid and you’ll laugh at me.” And Joel, with his glassy eyes, looked like he actually believed it.

“Joel, I’m not going to laugh at you. You didn’t laugh at me when I told you about Caiti.” He smiled reassuringly as his friend studied him cautiously. “Look, love is a big deal, especially for you. I wanna help you! You and Adam helped-”

“Don’t talk about him tonight,” Joel snapped suddenly.

“Woah, okay.” He’d definitely be asking about that later. “Still, I want to help just like you helped me, alright? But I can’t do that if you don’t tell me what’s up.” But Joel wasn’t looking at Jack anymore, he was looking over Jack’s shoulder (and looking like he was about to puke). Jack followed his line of sight to see Adam, Barbara, and Miles walking in and joking around.

Then Adam saw them and his face lit up even more. He nudged the others and nodded in their direction. They followed suit as Adam navigated through tables and people to get to them.

“We’ve gotta go,” Joel said, his voice tight.

“Hey, Jack,” Adam said cheerily, the others echoing him as they approached. “Hi, Joel.”

Joel, tense, half-assed a smile and nodded. Jack's gaze flickered between the two. Had Adam upset Joel?

"Hey," Jack acknowledged, masking his uncertainty with a smile. "What's up? I thought you guys were working late."

"We postponed our push night to next week and the Adams finished early in IT so we figured we'd stay out for a little while." As Miles continued to speak, Jack couldn't help but look back at Joel. His friend was staring resolutely at the bar, hunched over and closed off. The rise and fall of his chest was uneven.

"Joel?" Adam asked, quietly but loud enough to be heard over the ambience of the bar. "Are you okay?" Frowning worriedly, he reached out and gently grabbed Joel's shoulder.

Joel shook him off aggressively, turning his nervous gaze from Adam to Jack before sliding off of his barstool and stumbling out the back door.

“Was it something we said?” Barbara asked a few moments later.

“He doesn’t look okay to drive,” Miles said worriedly. 

“I have his keys,” Jack said, finally turning back around to face them. Adam was looking after where Joel had disappeared, hurt shining in his eyes. “Look, I’m sorry guys. I’ve got to get him home safely-”

“No, no worries,” Miles cut him off. “We’ll see you Monday.”

Jack found Joel leaning against the wall outside the door. He looked wrecked, distraught, a whole bunch of things Jack didn’t have words for. He sighed. All that mattered was that he got Joel home.

\------

Once Joel was safely settled in the guest room, Jack sat down to check his phone. It had been a long night and he wanted a little relaxation. However, his phone only informed him that he had an unread text from Miles.

_Hey. Just thought I should let you know that Adam left pretty much right after you guys did. Looked pretty upset. Do you know what the fuck that was all about?_

_**I've got absolutely no clue. We'd been talking before you guys showed up, though. I said Adam's name once and Joel immediately said not to talk about him. Any ideas?** _

_Lol maybe a lover's quarrel_

_But really, I've got nothing. When Adam left he didn't seem guilty, though. Idk, Joel can be a little weird sometimes._

Something in Jack wouldn't let him get past "lover's quarrel." They'd been talking about love beforehand-

Oh.

_**On second thought, I think I know exactly what's up.** _

\------

Jack hid a grin as Joel came stumbling into his kitchen, groaning and holding his head in clear agony. “I can’t even remember the last time you had to crash at my place.” Joel grunted and cracked his eyes open. Jack laughed as he groaned louder.

“Just- just don’t make noise,” he whimpered, sitting at the table and resting his head on his arms.

“I told you to stop,” Jack said. “All’s fair in love and love.”

“You’re an asshole. I knew I should’ve just stayed home. I knew it.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. I’m just kidding, alright?” Just then, Caiti walked in. Jack grinned and kissed her hello.

“Good morning, Joel!” She said cheerily, clearly relishing in the loud moan that got her. “Maybe tequila wasn’t your best choice, hey?” Of course, being the sweetheart she was, she placed a mug of tea in front of him along with two ibuprofen. She took a seat next to Jack and they stared at their friend expectantly as he swallowed the medicine.

"You know, you guys are really terrifying when you do that," he said warily.

"We never got to finish our talk, Joel."

"Look, it's nothing, alright?"

"Being in love isn't nothing. And it was clearly someone who was at the bar last night, so I want to know. We want to _help_." Joel sighed and rubbed his forehead, concerning Jack that he was working himself into a frenzy like the one from the night before.

"It's- it's going to sound insane, alright? And I'm really hungover and I seriously don't think the three of us have the strength to do this right now. I know I don't-"

"Joel," Caiti said softly, reaching across the table to take one of his hands. He stared at their hands, unable to look either of his friends in the face.

"It's Adam," he finally blurted out, still not meeting their eyes. "It's Adam."

Jack wished he could blurt out 'I knew it,' but he restrained himself. Instead, he grinned widely.

"And you're sure?" Caiti asked, smiling gently. Joel nodded and she let his hand go. "Then we're going to help."

And they made a silent agreement to never mention this to anyone.

**Six**

Joel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was no turning back from this moment. This could literally make or break one of the most important friendships in his life. He checked over his outfit one more time- Caiti had insisted on business casual as she went through his closet, thrusting a blazer and a deep blue dress shirt into his hands. Ensuring that everything was in place, he raised his hand and knocked on Adam's door.

"Hey," Adam said as he opened it. He looked Joel up and down and rose an eyebrow. "Fancy. Going somewhere?"

"Well, I mean, I- I hope." He took a deep breath and glanced around before working up the guts to look back at Adam. "You- you want to go to dinner?" He broke eye contact and kicked the ground a little. "I mean somewhere nice, not like our usual." His heart was pounding in his ears. Adam frowned a little, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You're acting weird."

"No I'm not," he said a little too quickly, cringing internally.

"Yeah you are. You have been ever since a couple weeks ago, when I saw you and Jack at the bar. What's up?"

"I- it's nothing. You don't have to come. It's fine," Joel said, starting to turn around.

"Hang on a second, I didn't say I don't want to go to dinner. I'm just worried about you, dude." The statement made Joel's heart skip a beat, which only made him more upset.

"It'll make sense later."

"Alright, fine. Let me get changed. It'll take like five minutes. I'll meet you at your car."

\-----

Joel needed to stop having such tense car rides. Honestly, he was going to have a heart attack one day. But Adam was sitting there right next to him with his stupid shirt unbuttoned a little and his stupid sleeves rolled up and he had combed his fucking beard and Joel had to restrain himself from pulling the car over to dig himself into an early grave right then and there.

"You're freaking me out, dude."

"Wait, what?" Joel asked, finally coming back to the real world.

"I said you're freaking me out. Why are we dressed so fancy? Why do you look like you're having an aneurysm?"

"I don't look like I'm having an aneurysm," Joel argued, frowning.

"Now you just like you're having a worse aneurysm. Are you dying?" Adam grinned. "I mean I know you're old, but-"

"Will you just shut the fuck up?" Joel asked, but he was already laughing. "God damnit! I was trying to be serious, Adam!"

"Very serious, Joel. I'm very sorry."

"Shut up or I'm not paying for dinner."

"Very serious. Very sorry."

"Adam."

\-----

Joel was hit with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. The awkwardness, Adam sneaking glances at him over his menu, stuffy businessmen and rich families surrounding them- it felt like they were two years younger when they hadn't been friends yet. When Joel was still struggling to remember where he'd seen the guy before and not seeing him every single day. When they had to rely on Jack and Caiti to sustain conversation.

"So-" Adam said.

"Uh-" Joel said at the same time, and he couldn't help but smile a little. Adam studied him for a moment, frowning.

"Talk to me, goose."

"What?"

"Joel, you asked for water and there's a full, very fancy selection of wine and liquor right here. You have got to tell me what's going on. Are you actually dying? Are you moving away? Am I dying?"

"Are you dying? Because that'll make things really fucking complicated."

"That'll make what complicated?"

Joel groaned and ran a hand through his hair, scrubbing it slightly. So much for his classy look. Could he do this? He didn't think he could do this. There was too much at risk, not only for him but for Rooster Teeth. If he fucked it up... He couldn't handle it.

"Whatever bad things you think are gonna happen are definitely not gonna happen," Adam said gently.

"You don't know that! You don't even know why we're here!"

"Because you won't tell me anything!"

"Look, this was Jack and Caiti's idea, alright? They said they wanted to help."

"What?"

"Remember when we helped Jack propose to Caiti?"

"Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?"

"They wanted to help me. With you." He hadn't even been looking at Adam and it took all of his energy.

"Oh."

"It's- its fine. It was fucking stupid anyway." He'd expected this. "I'll take you home if you want."

"You should probably let someone reject you before you start dealing with the rejection," Adam said, laughing a little. "And will you please look at me?"

"So you can make eye contact as you reject me?" Joel asked bitterly, and Adam laughed harder.

"I'm not going to reject you!" That got Joel's attention. His head snapped up to look at Adam, and Joel could swear his eyes were sparkling.

"What?"

"I am one hundred percent positive you heard me."

"Yeah, but that was kind of a fucking train wreck just now."

"I'm pretty sure it would've been the same way if we switched roles, but by all means, if you want to redo that..."

"No! No. This is fine."

"Just for the record, though? You didn't have to take me somewhere a salad costs twenty bucks."

"We can go somewhere else."

"Hoffbrau?" Adam grinned, and Joel's heart leapt into his throat, his stomach jumping around like a fucking traitor. He stood up clumsily, out of breath and knees weak (and wasn't that just great for good impressions).

"For the record," Joel said, finally able to normalize his breathing. "I never want to come back here again. Ever."

Adam tossed down a couple bills for his drink, laughing, and took Joel's hand, leading him out of the restaurant.

And when they walked into work hand in hand that Monday (which was _Adam's_ idea, which meant _Adam_ would do the talking)... Needless to say, everyone mentioned it.

**Author's Note:**

> Probably one of the only things I've written in this fandom that I'lll ever consider posting. Honestly these two are my weak spot :') If you liked it, please comment and/or kudos <3  
> 


End file.
